By Jim Hage
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 27, 2007

As a beauty queen, combat nurse and marathoner, Jill Stevens is continuously proving that she's more than just a pretty face. The reigning Miss Utah will run the 32nd Marine Corps Marathon, which starts at the Iwo Jima Memorial tomorrow morning at 8.

Stevens, 24, is a sergeant in the Utah National Guard and served a 12-month tour of duty in Afghanistan. Since returning in April 2005, she has completed her degree in nursing from Southern Utah University and earlier this month passed her board exams to be a registered nurse.

"I have this opportunity to give back," she said, "and I try to do that as a soldier helping this country. It's the same with nursing and even as Miss Utah, really. Giving back is my passion."

Fitness would be a close second. Although Stevens trains sparingly, she is an accomplished marathoner. Three weeks ago, what started as a long training run for Marine Corps turned into her ninth marathon in St. George, Utah.

Stevens's best time is 3 hours 8 minutes 33 seconds at St. George's two years ago. A similar time tomorrow would place her among the top 10 women.

"My goal is just to break 3:30," Stevens said. "I haven't been training that regularly, I've just been too busy. If I can run 3:20, I'll be really pleased."

Stevens typically runs 11 miles just twice a week -- "Sometimes I'll throw in a 14-miler," she said -- but is also a cycling instructor at a Kaysville, Utah, gym, where she does at least an hour of cardiovascular work every day. She is often at the door when the gym opens at 4:30 a.m. in order to squeeze in a workout before an early-morning TV or speaking engagement.

Since winning the Miss Utah pageant in January, Stevens has kept a frenetic schedule of statewide appearances, sometimes as many as nine in one day. Along with a $500 monthly stipend for gas and food came a "travel companion" to drive her from venue to venue. But Stevens quickly realized she could move faster on her own. "He's 65, and I'm 24," she said. "I told them I can drive myself around."

Stevens arrived in Washington on Wednesday, and before the race was meeting soldiers at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and military officials at the Pentagon along with several other appearances she couldn't immediately identify. "I've got a few every day," she said.

The middle child of five, Stevens signed up for a six-year hitch with the National Guard out of high school. Her mother, Karen Stephens, was surprised by that decision, but only initially.

"Even as a little girl she's been very focused and motivated by challenges," said Stephens, who sings in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. "The recruiters told me they would break her down, then build her up again, but I told them to take her as she is. And today, her core self remains the same. She's a good soldier and a good person just as she is."

In Afghanistan, Stevens tended to wounded soldiers and provided humanitarian aid to the local population as a member of the 211th Aviation Group. She ran a marathon there on a five-lap dirt and asphalt course that had to first be deemed clear of land mines. Stevens finished in 3:45, her slowest marathon effort, seventh out of 187 runners.

Upon returning to college in Cedar City, she was asked to speak about her experience in the war zone. Thereafter, the dean of students encouraged Stevens to enter the 2006 Miss SUU contest, her first beauty pageant.

"You know, she's goofy, really, she's a tomboy, so we thought it a joke," Stephens said. "Jill cleans up pretty good, but when she won, we were absolutely astounded."

While accepting her crown in the campus theater, Stevens "took a nose-dive in her heels and gown, right on the stage, something right out of the Sandra Bullock movie," Stephens said. "She was so far out of her comfort zone."

Thus christened and qualified, Stevens finished third in the 2006 state pageant. But last June 30, Stevens won the Miss Utah competition, and in January she'll compete in Las Vegas to become Miss America.

Whether she wins or not is immaterial to Stevens's long-term plans. She remains single and has already committed to spend two more years in the Guard; the future as she describes it after that sounds straight from central casting, circa 1950: "I'd like to settle down and have children. My focus is on home."